Home Decorating Mistakes To Avoid

Have you grown a bit tired of the appearance of your home? Perhaps you have recently bought a new property and you are looking into different interior design styles and themes? No matter whether you are embarking on a small or big redecoration process, it is important that you approach it with care. With that in mind, read on to discover some of the most common decorating mistakes that people make so that you can avoid making them.

Diving straight in

There is no denying that one of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to decorating is diving straight in without a plan. While you may be excited about giving your home a new look and feel, it is important to carefully consider the redecoration process. You need to think about everything that you are going to be doing so that you can approach it in a logical order. Moreover, you need to make sure that you have all of the correct equipment and materials before you start the process. If you simply dive in with little consideration or without a plan, you will end up getting ahead of yourself and missing out some vital steps along the way. This can be a recipe for disaster.

Designing around the television

A lot of people design around the television when it comes to the living room. This is of little surprise when you consider the fact that watching TV is probably the main activity that most people get up to while they are in the lounge area. Nevertheless, while you want everybody to be able to see the next episode of Coronation Street, this does not mean that the living room has to be dictated by your television. In fact, you should incorporate your television into the design. If you do this, you will have a living space that is accommodating and stylish at the same time, rather than having a living space that looks awkward because it is set up for the television and the television alone.

Not having any indoor plants

A lot of homeowners may think that investing in indoor plants is a waste of money. After all, they are going to wilt and die after a period of time, and you will need to keep replacing them. However, indoor plants offer many more benefits than you may realise and, therefore, they are essential for the home. They look beautiful and they will add tons of style and personality to your property. Not only this, but they will also improve the airflow within your property, which creates a much more comfortable and welcoming living environment. This is something that a lot of people do not realise, but houseplants certainly do more than beautify a space.

Poor storage choices

If there is one thing that most homes lack today, it is storage. However, we have a tendency to make things worse for ourselves because we do not make wise decisions when it comes to storage options and furniture within the home. When you are looking for furniture to add to your home, it is important that you look for items that will also give you additional storage space. Good examples of this include vanity units and divan beds. If you choose items purely based on their appearance and nothing else, you will be left with tons of things and nowhere to put them. Storage always needs to be a primary consideration when designing and decorating any type of property.

Insufficient lighting

In any home, lighting plays an incredibly important role, however, many homeowners underestimate just how crucial it is. Firstly, you need to focus on getting as much natural light into your property as possible. If you cannot afford to knock down walls and invest in bigger windows or have a skylight installed, there are other ways that you can enable more natural light to flow into your property. For example, you can strategically place large mirrors within the room so that light reflects off the surface and bounces back into the room. The same impact will happen if you include reflective surfaces within the room as well. Moving onto artificial light, a lot of homeowners will only rely on one harsh overhead light within a room. This is never the way to go because it creates a difficult living environment. It will cause you to strain your eyes when doing certain activities and it can create headaches as well. The best thing to do is to make sure you have various light sources within the one room, ranging from all the overhead light to reading lights and table lamps to floor lamps. Investing in a light dimmer also comes highly recommended so that you can reduce the brightness and the intensity of the light based on the activity you are doing and the time of day.

Not testing paint colours

Another mistake that a lot of people make when redecorating is starting a big project without testing a bit of the paint first. While colour swatches may be helpful if you start a big paint project without testing the paint you could end up being disappointed with the end result. The best thing to do is to buy a number of smaller containers of your favourite paint choices and try multiple hues on the wall that you are going to paint. This will ensure that you don’t end up with a carrot orange room when you were really trying to achieve a burnt orange shade.

Ignoring the entrance to your home

Your porch or home entrance provides you with a great opportunity to make a bold statement about who you are, your personality, and what your house is like. After all, this is likely to be the first thing that people see when they arrive at your house and, therefore, it sets the tone for the rest of your property. However, despite this, most people do not pay any attention to the front porch. Instead, it becomes a place that merely gathers dust and clutter. Instead, add colour to this part of your home by using paint or patterned wallpaper and add some decoration in the form of a painting or a mirror. You can also use horizontal shelves to hold keys and your mail when you first walk into the property.

Taking things apart and then not being able to put them back together

This is something that we have probably all done before. If you are planning on redecorating your home, it’s likely that you may need to move some furniture or electrical or items around. This may mean that you need to take things apart and then put them back together again. If this is the case, you should take a photograph of what the item in question looks like now. You can then refer to this when you need to put the item back together.

A lack of comfort

Another mistake that a lot of people make when decorating their home is prioritising appearance over comfort. While there is nothing wrong with having a formal approach to a certain room within the home, you need to make sure that this does not come at a sacrifice of feeling comfortable. After all, you are going to be living in this place and, therefore, how you feel and your ability to relax are of paramount importance. It is all about creating spaces that are elegant yet inviting at the same time. While you want your home to look like it has just come out of a fashionable interior design magazine, it also needs to be somewhere that is livable and cosy.

So there you have it: some of the common mistakes that people make when they are decorating their home. If you are planning to do a bit of decoration within your property within the near future, make sure you avoid the errors that have been presented above so that you can have a trouble-free process and be happy with the end result.

*This is a collaborative post*

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About The Author

Rachael is a 26 year old mum to 5 year old Luke and baby Oscar. She lives in England, slap bang on the border of Surrey and Hampshire. She writes about family life, crafts, recipes, parenting wins(and fails), as well as travel, days out, fashion and living the frugal lifestyle.

Hi, I’m Rachael

My name is Rachael, I’m 26 and I live on the Surrey/Hampshire border. I live with my son, Luke who is 5, Oscar, born July ’18 and my boyfriend Mikey. Join me as I chat babies, kids, crafts, finance, days out, vegetarian recipes, fashion and more.

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